The AI boom is keeping employees well paid. It's also not letting them go anywhere. (www.businessinsider.com)

The AI-driven surge in chip and AI company stock prices has created a new wave of "golden handcuffs" for employees: large compensation packages paid as restricted stock units (RSUs) are now worth multiples of their 2023 value, making it financially risky to quit. RSUs vest over time, so leaving before vesting can mean forfeiting substantial pay — Business Insider notes examples like a $420,000 Nvidia grant swelling to nearly $2 million, and a $66,000 Broadcom package rising to about $267,000. Companies explicitly use equity to retain staff; Nvidia reports turnover has halved and Broadcom’s voluntary attrition is just 6.2%, trends leaders credit to equity awards. For the AI/ML community this matters beyond paychecks. Heavy use of vested equity reduces talent mobility, concentrating experienced engineers at a few winners and potentially starving startups and other firms of recruits. It shifts leverage toward employers, changes hiring dynamics, and could slow diffusion of knowledge and innovation across the ecosystem. The tradeoff for workers is acute: immediate wealth tied to a company’s stock versus career moves that might advance skills or long-term prospects but sacrifice unvested upside. Practitioners and hiring managers should factor RSU structures and vesting timelines into recruitment, retention, and workforce-planning strategies.